Tobacco Articles: category letter

Should I design a tobacco firm’s new HQ? : In the first of a new series, Irena Bauman, author of How to be a Happy Architect, tackles your ethical dilemmas

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

A tobacco firm has asked me to design its new headquarters and the brief looks exciting. But I have ethical objections to its business. Should I accept the commission?

. . . My advice is: resist the vanity of the compliment and refuse the commission. Architects lack direct political or financial powers to shape society’s ethics. But we can help shape social values by deciding who we will or will not work for. In accepting commissions, we sign up to the values they represent.

LETTER: SAWYER: Tobacco should be taxed more

greg.lawson@tuscaloosanews.com (Mike Sawyer) — Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Dear Editor: Rush Limbaugh recently blasted the governor and state lawmakers of Ohio for taking back the anti-tobacco funding. Rush, with his public compassion toward smokers, stated, 'We ought to be giving these people medals. These are the people paying for health care in this country. The taxes they pay on tobacco products, they are funding health care for your little Johnny while you're out there thinking that they're the worst scum on earth. You ought to be thanking them.' Rush needs a little Internet research before spreading his pro-tobacco manure. A report states that in the fiscal year 2006, the federal smoking-caused health expenditures were $54.5 billion and the total federal tobacco tax revenues were $7.3 billion. Rush, shouldn't your tobacco-less Bush administration adjust the federal tax on tobacco like the increases on postage stamps? . . . Bush stamped out two federal tobacco tax increases last year with his vetoes that would have provided health care for little Johnny.

LETTER: Be a sissy and quit smoking

Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

For years my wife (who has asthma) would get on me to quit smoking. "Look at these walls, close the closet door, the clothes all stink from smoke, you stink." I had a clever response: "Only sissies quit. Did John Wayne, Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen or Humphrey Bogart quit?" They were my heroes -- they would light up in a minute. Yeah, I know, they all died of cancer. But lung cancer happens to other people, not me. In about a week I have an appointment at the Hillman Cancer Center in Shadyside. It's for a biopsy on my left lung.

LETTERS: LIGHTING UP NY CRIME: HIGH COST OF CIG TAX

Mon, 05 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The situation with cigarette smuggling is 100 percent predictable ("Smuggled Butts: The Terror Ties," Peter King, PostOpinion, April 30). When the government raises a tax to levels perceived as punitive, a new criminal enterprise will arise to get around it, and otherwise law-abiding citizens will support the criminals

the smoking ban was nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt by a bloated, gluttonous and unaccountable government to raise revenue without raising all of our taxes. It accomplished this goal by demonizing an entire class of adults who, with full knowledge of the consequences, chose to enjoy tobacco products.

LETTER: State should step up and raise cigarette tax

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

One constantly reads about the forthcoming state budget shortfall. Why am I not surprised? It looks as though the pending legislation to increase the cigarette tax is about to be swept under the rug for another year. It seems like once again a handful of good ol' boys, with the collusion of the rest of the legislature, will kowtow to the wishes of a small special interest group. What about the general public and their welfare? Why don't we qualify as a "special interest group"?

LETTERS: High Taxes Discourage Consumption, Boost Smuggling

Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

I'm looking at the photo accompanying Patrick Fleenor's May 7 op-ed, "Cigarette Taxes Are Fueling Organized Crime," and thinking, "Look at all that revenue going up in smoke." Maybe the government should go retail and sell what it has confiscated -- after all, cigarettes are legal.

Patrick Fleenor turns logic on its head by arguing that high tobacco taxes do more harm than good. The fact that criminals have learned to make money by smuggling cigarettes from low-tax states to high-tax states does not mean that we should, therefore, eliminate tobacco taxes. While Mr. Fleenor calls high tobacco taxes bad public policy, tell that to the citizens of New York City, where less than 9% of youths smoke compared to 23% nationally. If we were to eliminate high tobacco taxes, we would be giving up the most effective tool in our arsenal -- higher prices -- in battling the nation's leading cause of preventable death. . . . Eliminating tobacco taxes will not eliminate the existence of organized crime nor the threat of terrorism -- nefarious groups will simply find other ways to replace lost funds, just as they always have. Eliminating tobacco taxes however, would lead to more people smoking, resulting in higher rates of death and disease as well as increased health-care spending. Rather than scale back our efforts to fight the nation's number one public health problem, we should intensify our efforts and use those strategies that we know work.

LETTER: Modify Smoking Ban

Sun, 11 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

If I were "silver tongued" and fluent of speech, like Barack Obama, I would plead my case before the council. Being not so, I will try the printed page. Due to the anti-smoking hysteria in the last 40 years, smoking numbers have declined. Smokers have no large lobby protecting their rights, no large number of oxen are being gored. Once again, I request the ban be modified so people can smoke outside in the open air. This ban unless modified will surely gore my ox.

LETTER: Anti-smoking brigade out of control

mailto:rteague@thegazette.canwest.com (John Purdy) — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Really, the anti-smoking brigade has gone from having a valid point, namely that smoking is bad for one's health, to being a bunch of whining, effete, moral crusaders. First, studies demonstrating health risks for those exposed to second-hand smoke, never rock-solid science to begin with, were based on people working eight hours in closed, poorly ventilated spaces where heavy smoking went on continuously. . . . Yes, by all means, let's give the Quebec government one more excuse for tightening its stranglehold on society. In this regard, anti-smokers represent more of a threat to society than smokers do.

LETTER: Improve air quality but don't ban smoking: May 5: Letters to the Editor

Mon, 05 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The most comprehensive study ever on secondhand smoke titled "Environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality" states, "the results do not support a casual relation between secondhand smoke and tobacco related mortality." The study was conducted from 1960 to 1998 with support from the School of Public Health, University of California and the Department of Preventive Medicine, State University of New York. The facts on this ban are simple and well supported. It will "bring bar and restaurant business down 6.5 to 11 percent" (Dr. Michael Pakko, economist). . . . OSHA and the Indiana Building and Mechanical Code already give tight guidelines to air quality. By simply enforcing these standards, business owners will have the choice on how to regulate or condition their air to meet those existing codes. The April 25 letter was correct in pointing out that smoking is not a "civil right." However, it is a liberty that if taken away, will be met with civil disobedience.

LETTER to the Editor: Director clears up allegations of Res. Life seeking campus-wide smoking ban

Fri, 02 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

After reading your editorial in the April 25 edition, I implore you to correct and clarify the statements made about the Pershing smoking policy. Your editorial asked “someone” to listen to students. In fact, we listened: to the many residents who asked us remedy the situation, which we did and have already been thanked for doing so; . . . Only after repeated efforts to address the problem through encouragement, education and requests for actual enforcement of the UMHC smoking policy proved ineffective did we decide on this restriction. For clarification, “the administration” for MU and UMHC are NOT the same. The UMHC administration bears responsibility for hospital employees but although under not any duty to do so, Residential Life (which reports to the MU administration) is providing a smoking area in our efforts to be “good neighbors.” Through this policy, we are finding a way to both provide space for our residents who smoke — picnic tables in the courtyard — while still honoring the requests of those students who do not smoke. Lastly, the conspiracy theory about a subversive attempt to pilot a campus-wide smoking ban is inventing news, not reporting it.

LETTER: YOUR OPINION: Clear differences between tobacco and drug paraphernalia

kenjohnson@ledger.com (LOUISE STONE) — Tue, 06 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

According to information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, hardcore drug paraphernalia, outlawed in Massachusetts, has distinct characteristics that indicate that its sole, or at least dominant use, is with illicit drugs. For example, bongs are always made of non-porous materials, such as metal or glass, because marijuana gives off a sticky, smelly residue. To avoid the buildup of pot residue, the bongs must be made of materials which can be scrubbed. Tobacco gives off pleasant less sticky resins, and tobacco users prefer to let these resins build up in wooden pipe bowls and stems.

LETTER: Cigarette smoke hurts everyone

Tue, 06 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Do you enjoy the smell of cigarette smoke during a meal? I don’t. I have written this persuasive essay to try and get the laws in Anderson’s restaurants changed. Is second-hand smoke worse than the smoke coming off the cigarette? Scientists have done studies on that question, and found that it is. . . . In conclusion, I believe that if you can’t get up and go outside to smoke that’s sad, inconsiderate and lazy. Not to mention you should be able to make it through dinner without a cigarette. I realize it’s an addiction, but still at least go outside to respect the other people who don’t smoke. Also, no matter how far you sit from it you can always smell it. Thank you for your time. Ash Padgett, Anderson Editor’s note: This letter, from a middle school student, is published with the permission of parents, as the writer is underage.

LETTER: Smoking and a Shorter Life

Mon, 05 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

It was no surprise that a recent report by Harvard researchers identified smoking as a major contributor to why women in parts of the United States can expect to live shorter lives than their mothers. Cigarette companies have been taking aim at women and girls for decades. As Majid Ezzati, one of the report's authors, suggests, this life expectancy disparity must be addressed through public health strategies. The American Lung Association strongly believes that the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, now pending in Congress, is a public health priority.

LETTERS: Voice of the People

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Manhattan: Re "Cigs to hit $9 a pack" (April 1): The real cost of smoking is not the pack price, but the loss of thousands of New Yorkers to strokes, hearts attacks and cancer. . . . A $1.50 tax increase would reduce the number of adult smokers by more than 150,000 and prevent more than 50,000 early deaths statewide. Thousands of kids would quit smoking as a result of high cigarette prices, and thousands more would never start. --Sarah B. Perl, assistant commissioner Bureau of Tobacco Control N.Y.C. Department of Health & Mental Hygiene

Brooklyn: How dare they even suggest banning smoking from homes ("Puffs get snuffed," March 30)? What is this, Russia?

LETTER: Just ban tobacco

tabtips@png.canwest.com (Jean Hunt, Coquitlam) — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

It doesn't matter how cigarettes are hidden in a store. If people want to try them, they will. The only way to stop teens from starting to smoke is a complete ban. It's time we started to blame the government, instead of picking on those of us who are highly addicted to this awful habit.